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COMRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



FOUR RELIGIOUS ESSAYS 



BY 



JOHN C. SKOTTOWE 




BOSTON 

RICHARD G. BADGER 

THE GORHAM PRESS 



Copyright, 1920, by John C. Skottowe 



All Rights Reserved 



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Made in the United States of America 



The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A. 



MAY 27 i32u 
)C!.A570198 






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CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I Some Thoughts on the Psychic Constitu- 
tion of Man and His Latent Possibili- 
ties 7 

II Love the Basis of Religious Unity . 27 

III Does the Church Care More for 

Various Theories of the Truth Than 
She Does for the Truth Itself? , . 36 

IV The Divinity of Man 49 



FOUR RELIGIOUS ESSAYS 



FOUR RELIGIOUS ESSAYS 



I 



SOME THOUGHTS ON THE PSYCHIC CONSTITUTION 
OF MAN AND HIS LATENT POSSIBILITIES 

TO write an essay on Psychics or Psychic 
Phenomena is indeed a task so vast and of 
so great importance that one might well hesitate 
to attempt so sublime a theme, but on the other 
hand, when one has for years tried to make a 
fair and unprejudiced study of a particular sub- 
ject and has hunted up and studied many volumes 
and compared many theories concerning the Psy- 
chic constitution of man and its faculties, besides 
at one time making certain personal investigations 
in what is known as Psychic Phenomena, it may 
prove of some benefit to those who have had 
neither the time nor the inclination to delve into 
so fascinating a subject to hear some of the theo- 
ries so studied and some of the conclusions ar- 
rived at. 

The tendency of the greatest masters of the 

7 



8 Four Religious Essays 

Occult at the present day with which we are in 
full sympathy is to try to bridge over the chasm 
that exists between the extremely contemplative 
and mystic idealism of the Orient which runs un- 
doubtedly to an extreme on one side, with the 
extreme physical practicalism of the Occident 
which runs to an extreme on the other side. We 
use the word "physical" and not "material" for 
reasons which will appear later on. Each, we be- 
lieve, has an important lesson to impart to the 
other, and the happy balance which in due season 
will be finally struck will prove of the greatest 
benefit to mankind, as both extremes up to a cer- 
tain point are also necessary for their final com- 
pletion, preparatory to their final blending for 
the fuller completion of humanity. 

No one can read the ancient religions of Egypt, 
Chaldea, India, and also that of the Druids, with- 
out becoming convinced that they had made a 
marvellous study of the complex constitution of 
Human Nature. Moreover we find that the great 
religious masters, including those of primitive 
Christianity, and the Master himself, always with- 
held certain spiritual and psychic knowledge from 
the populace for good and valid reasons, well 
known and understood by the student of occultism, 
and which were only handed down orally to the 



The Psychic Constitution of Man 9 

Initiate who to the best of their knowledge and 
belief after most severe trials and tests were then 
deemed duly and truly prepared, worthy and well 
qualified to receive them. We also find after a 
careful study that there have been two dominant 
factors in religion, the highest and noblest from 
time immemorial recognizing and upholding the 
inalienable rights and liberties of the Individual, 
holding that the Individual, to be of the greatest 
use to society of which he is an integral part, 
must develop that individuality to the highest 
point; the other holding that the organization is 
of supreme importance and teaching that loyalty 
to the Institution even at the risk of forfeiting 
one's individual rights and opinions is necessary 
and that man must sacrifice himself to the organ- 
ization so becoming of the greatest use to society 
within the organization and thus practically be- 
coming a slave to the institution and its heads, for 
which sacrifice of individuality certain rewards are 
held out to them both in this life and especially 
in the life hereafter. So far as true psychic de- 
velopment is concerned, the latter method is de- 
cidedly destructive to individual unfoldment and 
spiritual and psychic growth, whereas the former 
is constructive, as it follows the laws of nature on 
all planes, and not any man's particular theories. 



io Four Religious Essays 

Its distinguishing between theories and natural 
laws may be proved by personal demonstration 
by those who elect to test them. 

Some sort of survival of the Physical Death 
has been held in varying degree in all religions, 
some, however, having a much more advanced and 
clear idea on this subject than others. It is also 
curious to note that many from time immemorial 
have held that it is possible under certain condi- 
tions for the living to hold communion with the 
dead. We find that the greatest masters of the 
Occult teach that this is possible in two ways, one 
of which they designate as the Constructive Princi- 
ple of Nature in Individual Life, which belongs 
to the highest kind of Individual Liberty and 
which is brought about by Individual Develop- 
ment through hastening on and aiding evolution- 
ary methods or perhaps better expressed by has- 
tening on evolutionary conditions, in which case 
the Individual is perfectly conscious of every step 
he takes; this method might also be termed the 
objective method because in all he undergoes he 
is in a perfectly self-conscious condition. The 
other method they call the Destructive Principle 
of Nature in Individual Life, which is the sub- 
jective method and is also the method employed 
in mediumship, which is heartily condemned and 



The Psychic Constitution of Man n 

pointed out as dangerous to the soul of man as it 
is practically destructive to the rational intelli- 
gence and will of man, and is liable to lead to 
lunacy and obsession. The facts and phenomena 
of mediumship are not denied, but the methods 
of their usual production are severely censured, it 
being pointed out that mediumship like hypnotism 
is a psychic process and both are liable to deprive 
the individual under their influence of his Indi- 
vidual Will and Rational Intelligence, and hence 
of his self-control, thus depriving him of those 
faculties of the soul which endow him with the 
gift of Humanity and which raise him above the 
brute creation, and in that condition he more than 
likely becomes the mere automaton of his hypno- 
tizer, or if in the case of mediumship, which is 
practically hypnotism by a disincarnate being, of 
his control. 

They teach us that the constructive develop- 
ment, if followed and obeyed, finally produces a 
Master. That on the other hand, if the subjective 
method is insisted upon, it, being as a rule destruc- 
tive, likely leads to danger and disaster to the 
soul. 

That some of the wise men or Magi of old 
understood the complex nature of man more fully 
than it is generally understood to-day, we do not 



12 Four Religious Essays 

hesitate in admitting, but we also believe that the 
teaching of these ancient masters is not as some 
believe entirely lost, but that it has been handed 
down to the present day to a few by whom it is 
jealously and carefully guarded for most impor- 
tant and valid reasons, and that at the proper time 
the knowledge they possess will be given gradually 
to the world, after perhaps undergoing certain 
modifications. In fact we have reasons for be- 
lieving that there probably is a secret school in 
direct line of descent who have been and still are 
accumulating vast stores of knowledge along these 
specific lines and which, as just now said, when the 
right time comes will be more generally imparted 
to the world. 

In a book entitled u Future Life," by Louis 
Elbe, we find stated that the Human Being has 
been considered as made up of seven elements, of 
which that of Theosophy, the Hindu, and the 
Egyptian are given as follows : 





Theosophical 


Hindu 


Egyptian 


I. 


Physical Body 


Rapa 


Xa 


2. 


Vitality 


Jiva 


Hati 


3- 


Astral Body 


Luiga chavira 


Tet 


4- 


Animal Soul 


KamaRapa 


Xaib 


5- 


Human Soul 


Manas 


Sahu 


6. 


Spiritual Soul 


Buddhi 


Ra 


7- 


Divine Spirit 


Atma 


Ka 



Another division in English terms has also been 
given as follows: 



The Psychic Constitution of Man 13 

1. Physical Body 

2. Astral Body 

3. Prana or Vital Force 

4. Instinctive Mind 

5. Intellect. 

6. Spiritual Mind 

7. Spirit 

In the Old Testament there are three distinct 
Hebrew words which are roughly translated soul 
or spirit: nichema, rouah, nephesh. In the crea- 
tion of man in Genesis these terms are used and 
Hebrew scholars wishing to keep a distinction in 
view have given this rendering: "The Lord God 
joined to his material organs (that is, of man) 
the intelligent soul (the ego) nichema, bearing the 
breath of life; rouah (which follows it in all 
lives) ; and the bond of this union of the soul with 
the gross body was a breath of life, nephesh. 

There is another division of these elements or 
bodies made by the School of Natural Science 
which is as follows : 

Physical Body Physical Magnetism or Physical 

Magnetic Body 

Spiritual Magnetism or Spiritual Magnetic Body 

Spiritual Body Soul or Ego 

With the following Life Elements: 

Mineral Kingdom One Life Element, Electro-Magnetic 

Vegetable Kingdom Two Life Elements, Electro-Mag- 

netic and Vito-Chemical, latter 
predominating. 

Animal Kingdom Three Life Elements, Electro-Mag- 

netic, Vito-Chemical and the 
Spiritual Life Element, latter 
predominating. 



14 Four Religious Essays 

Mankind Four Life Elements, Electric Mag- 

netic, Vito-Chemical, Spiritual 
Life Element, Soul Life Element, 
latter predominating. 

That the A has been one of the symbols of 
man in various schools of occult science for ages 
past is interesting. Here we find the base repre- 
senting the Physical Body with all its faculties, 
attributes and properties; the left hand side of 
the triangle representing the Spiritual Body with 
all its faculties, attributes and properties; and the 
right hand side, the Intelligent Rational Being, 
Ego or Soul. In a subject of this kind one must 
give credit to all sources for his information. 
What he can do for himself is to draw conclusions 
and test what is claimed. Among other things 
we learn to realize that there is spiritual matter 
or substance as well as physical matter or sub- 
stance, and that between the physical universe and 
the spiritual universe there is another large field 
of matter not so ethereal as the spiritual and 
more closely allied to the physical, known as the 
Magnetic Field, and that there is spiritual magne- 
tism which is attracted to the physical body, and 
that Physical and Spiritual Magnetism are attract- 
ed to each other. During our earthly life the 
soul, which is back of all these, manifests itself 
on the physical plane through the physical organ- 



The Psychic Constitution of Man 15 

ism; that the Spiritual Body resides within the 
Physical, though it does not actually occupy the 
same space, which one writer expresses somewhat 
in the following manner, "You can fill a glass with 
marbles and after it is so filled you can add to it 
a lot of small shot ; still it is not full, for you can 
then fill up the still vacant space with fine sand 
and after this you can pour in water and still other 
liquids of less density and can then charge it with 
electricity." Matter in the magnetic field is on a 
much higher vibratory rate than that in the phys- 
ical world, and matter in the spiritual world on 
still a higher vibratory plane. That the latent 
spiritual senses can be developed by proper train- 
ing, the basis of which is a strict morality, moral- 
ity being defined as "man's established Harmonic 
Relations to the Constructive Principle of his own 
being," that there is a technical work of Instruc- 
tion, is also admitted, but it is never given until 
sought for by a student and then not until he shall 
have proved himself worthy and well qualified and 
duly and truly prepared to receive the same, and 
no monetary remuneration is ever received for 
such instruction, that it is given orally and under 
the greatest secrecy; it is also clearly stated that 
but few at the present day have the time or the 
means to devote to it, and that any man who lives 
a pure and moral and unselfish life, at death will 



1 6 Four Religious Essays 

thus have prepared his soul for residence in the 
higher spiritual planes of existence whether he 
at present is aware of the fact or not, as obedience 
to God's or Nature's laws always reaps their due 
reward. 

At death we learn that man may enter at once 
into the Spiritual World in his Spiritual Body and 
with his Spiritual Magnetism, that those not pre- 
pared and still clinging to earth retain their phys- 
ical magnetism or physical magnetic body and re- 
side in the magnetic field until such time as they 
learn to unfold and leave it behind when it gradu- 
ally vanishes back to the elements to which it be- 
longs as does the physical to its elements, but that 
it can to some extent, after the owner has parted 
with it, be preserved by spirits who understand 
the way (it sometimes being known as the astral 
shell) and that at spiritual seances these astral 
shells are often made use of by evil spirits as a 
mask to impersonate their original owners, again 
showing one more way by which the unwary may 
be deceived in mediumistic seances. 

No student of the Occult can get very far in his 
studies without realizing the reason why what is 
called the school of White Magic constantly warns 
against Black Magic, which is dangerous and de- 
structive to the individual soul. That the Magnet- 
ic Field of the Mystic and Occult Societies has 



The Psychic Constitution of Man 17 

given rise to the Christian Intermediate State and 
the Roman Catholic Purgatory, there is in my 
mind no further doubt. 

Again the reason that our Lord undoubtedly 
laid such tremendous stress upon right conduct to 
those who followed him is also made more clear 
by my researches, as a good life here results in 
a good life hereafter even though we may be in 
complete ignorance concerning the conditions in 
another life. That the dangers and temptations 
arising from the student who unfolds his marvel- 
lous latent psychic powers and forces by means 
of the constructive method are also very great is 
also perfectly clear, for if used for selfish pur- 
poses they become destructive to the soul, and we 
all know what it means to eradicate every particle 
of selfishness which is so innate in us all. But 
that it is necessary for some to know these things 
and that there are a few great and good enough 
to use them aright is also well, for it is necessary 
for some to know these things by personal experi- 
ence and self-development, for some must be in 
advance of others to lead the world gradually on 
to higher and nobler conceptions and more pro- 
found truths. We also most firmly believe that 
the only legitimate way to unfold these latent di- 
vine psychic faculties is by the independent con- 
structive method by strict obedience to the laws 



1 8 Four Religious Essays 

of God that make for Individual unfoldment, 
without wilfully impairing or sacrificing our Per- 
sonal Responsibility which distinguishes man from 
the brute creation. We believe the only true way 
is the narrow way of attainment mentioned by our 
Lord and Master. That the subjective method by 
which we temporarily forfeit our Personal Re- 
sponsibility and allow ourselves to become mere 
automatons, or machines, yea, the playthings, for 
other beings either incarnate or disincarnate to 
do what they please with us, we believe to be ex- 
tremely dangerous against nature and nature's 
God, who has endowed us with that precious gift 
which raises us above the brute creation and 
makes us morally responsible beings; and to trifle 
with this gift and to forfeit it even for a time is to 
trifle with our souls, which will have a most de- 
structive effect upon our present and future well 
being that we may find it extremely hard to rec- 
tify and if insisted on, who can tell, may be ex- 
tremely fatal to the Individual soul itself; there- 
fore my advice, except for strictly scientific inves- 
tigation and purposes, is for the ordinary individ- 
ual to be very careful as to how he or she dabbles 
in Purely Subjective Methods. 

My study and researches naturally at one time 
led me to a very great interest in mediumistic 
Psychic Phenomena and various other subjective 



The Psychic Constitution of Man 19 

processes of coming into touch with the physically 
unseen and having found enough evidence at pri- 
vate seances to satisfy myself of the genuineness 
of some of the instances recorded, we were for 
some time not unfavorably disposed towards hon- 
est mediumship ; but one thing always was unsatis- 
factory, which was this, that the one who brought 
about the results when genuine was himself or her- 
self very often practically unconscious and irre- 
sponsible during the sitting. We felt for years 
that there surely must be an independent method 
whereby one could consciously unfold those higher 
faculties which are lying dormant or latent within 
us and which one school designates as the subjec- 
tive mind or subconscious self, and at the same 
time retain the memory of all thus seen unim- 
paired, and of one's own free will go and return 
into the higher planes of existence as we saw fit. 
We have been extremely glad that some of the 
best Teachers of True Psychism and Occultism 
have held for centuries the possibilities of this 
very thing, and there are some who have indi- 
vidually demonstrated its possibility. The writer 
intuitively knows it as a fact, but he is still but 
an interested student and hopes an unbiassed and 
unprejudiced seeker after Truth. 

There is much more we could say, as a study of 
mankind leads one into a thousand and one ques- 



20 Four Religious Essays 

tions not only purely psychical but also sociologi- 
cal, for you cannot separate the indwelling spirit 
that manifests itself in a thousand different forms 
and on manifold planes from the form it at any 
one particular period happens to assume and from 
the individual relationship it bears to other forms 
so manifesting themselves. No one has ever seen 
a soul; all he sees is the form that soul manifests 
itself in; it may be a physical body, an astral body, 
or a spiritual body, but so far as we can learn it 
always manifests itself through some form of 
material, for there is, as already remarked, spir- 
itual material as well as physical material, only 
on a higher plane of vibration. 

When we have learned by a wonderful mastery 
over self and perfect self-control to withdraw our- 
selves absolutely from our physical surroundings 
and, figuratively speaking, to close ourselves to 
the world, then we realize that we can use our 
latent senses so that they can behold other worlds 
than this. At death our physical instrument which 
connects us with the physical universe is dissolved 
or left behind, that is all. We may, if we know 
how, be able to clothe ourselves temporarily with 
physical matter again and so appear for some 
special object, but this is simply a physical phenom- 
enon and not a spiritual one. 

We now hope that enough has been said to 



The Psychic Constitution of Man 21 

awaken some slight interest in this subject, one 
often neglected and sometimes ignorantly scoffed 
at, but the writer knows that on more than one 
occasion he has been able from the results of his 
researches to give consolation at those hours of 
sorrow which come sooner or later to us all, which, 
had it not been for his certainty of that whereon 
he spoke, he could not have uttered the words he 
did, words which have helped to heal a sadly 
stricken heart. 

There are people, perhaps, who do not care to 
know very much about a place they are about to 
visit or to move to. They like to be surprised, 
but they may be disappointed. Others like to 
know all about where they are going so that they 
can make the best use of their time and pass on 
if possible to some place of greater interest and 
more congeniality. We must all pass the Great 
Divide ; a great surprise awaits many, but he who 
knows what he has to face will not go in darkness 
and in doubt, but ready to take up his work where 
he has left it off here, that is, if he is interested 
in things pertaining to the soul and its relation- 
ship to other souls, nor is he, on the other hand, 
impatient, for he also realizes that his essential 
ego or soul is as much in God's Universe and 
Eternity now as it always has been and always 
will be on some plane of manifestation. 



22 Four Religious Essays 

In a paper of this kind it is impossible to give 
more than a smattering of the ground gone over 
in one's researches in this most intensely interest- 
ing and all-absorbing topic, which includes all 
branches of the so-called Occult Sciences such as 
Astrology, Palmistry, Psychometry, Magic includ- 
ing Witchcraft, the various forms of Mental and 
Psychic Healing, Divination and Prophecy, Spir- 
itism, Demonology, Hypnotism, Mesmerism, etc. 
All of these, we believe, have a substratum of im- 
portant truth, which we by no means have heard 
the last of, but which in the extreme materialistic 
wave which passed over the western hemisphere 
in the last century were all too hurriedly banished 
into the background and dubbed as superstition 
and follies of a bygone and ignorant age. The 
materialistic science of last century, not forgetting 
the great good it accomplished and the many phys- 
ical blessings and comforts it has undoubtedly im- 
parted to us, lacked the True Scientific Spirit of 
the Present Day which demands a fair and im- 
partial inquiry into all things and is learning to 
condemn that haughty dogmatic spirit which 
claims to know it all. Some of the subjects men- 
tioned have in the past been given a far more 
careful and untiring research, and conclusions 
which were reached centuries ago are again be- 
ginning to find credence in scientific circles. Mes- 



The Psychic Constitution of Man 23 

merism and Hypnotism are no longer dispatched 
with a wave of the hand; they are undisputed 
facts, forerunners, no doubt, of certain others yet 
to be re-established, renovated, no doubt, and 
stripped of their errors but not entirely false. 

Again we have found in our researches of 
Occultism and Psychics that, among other things 
not mentioned, it teaches us not only to believe 
but to know that the great universal Intelligence 
is at all events a God of Divine Law and Order, 
and that man in fulfilling the laws of his higher 
being unfolds ever more and more freely his latent 
divine principles or potentialities. It teaches us 
that by a wrong use of the higher principles at- 
tained through personal development man for a 
time can sink lower than the brutes and that with 
intense pain and suffering he must retrace his 
steps. It destroys all ideas of an unworthy me- 
chanical or substitutionary religion. It gives us 
inexpressible and marvellous beauty and spiritual 
understanding of the work and teachings of our 
Blessed Lord and Master Jesus the Christ, mak- 
ing morality and a true moral character in its 
highest sense the Basis of True Religion and of 
true Psychic and Spiritual Development. It 
teaches the eternity of the soul of individual life 
and progression, and the unfoldment and attain- 
ment of great spiritual and psychic powers which 



24 Four Religious Essays 

when rightly used can be of inestimable benefit to 
mankind. It shows man how by obedience to the 
natural laws of the Beneficent Creator he can be- 
come master of himself and his appetites and 
passions and also of his conditions, instead of a 
slave to custom, to every passing idea that takes 
his fancy, and to his conditions and environment, 
for it shows how the latent possibilities and pow- 
ers of the soul may be so developed as to make us 
superior to the influence of environment and 
heredity. It teaches how obedience to God's laws 
on all planes as shown and taught by Jesus the 
Master of Masters, the Christ, can enable us to 
overcome disease except by accident to the Physical 
Body, and how we may become immune to sick- 
ness, always providing that we are willing to pay 
the price of obedience to the laws of our being. 

Many, no doubt, who have made no research 
into the marvellous constitution of man, who re- 
ceives a divine as well as a physical heredity, may 
feel inclined to smile at all this as the dream of a 
visionary idealist, but he who does so lays himself 
open to the charge of scoffing at the One Perfect 
Master of Spiritual, Psychic and Occult truth, 
Jesus, the Divine Man Jesus the Christ, who 
years ago announced that "whosoever believeth 
in me shall never die, because to such a one there 
is no death," only orderly transition to a higher 



The Psychic Constitution of Man 25 

plane of manifestation, and who also said to his 
disciples "Greater works than these shall ye do," 
alluding to his own marvellous works which were 
wrought through his perfect knowledge of 
spiritual and psychic forces which are lying latent 
waiting for our mastery and our knowledge of 
how to develop and then apply them. 

Let me close with the following words of Louis 
Elbe, to be found towards the close of his inter- 
esting book on "Future Life." I quote them as so 
many things of vast importance hinge upon their 
truth which personally I accept as well demon- 
strated. 

"The law of indestructibility applies not only to 
matter and energy, but also to all events of the 
past, which also become indestructible when once 
they have been recorded in the vibrations of the 
ether, and we have every reason to suppose that 
the law holds good of phenomena purely immate- 
rial in appearance such as thought, seeing that the 
ideas which we conceive appear also to be in- 
scribed in the unending vibrations of the invincible 
ether. We recognize, in fine, that nothing what- 
soever in the universe can elude the inevitable 
operation of the incorruptible law which eternally 
preserves the memory of the past; and we are 
hence justified in concluding that the living, and 
especially the conscious, forces must also be 



26 Four Religious Essays 

amenable to the same law, for it can scarcely have 
determined to preserve the memory of our most 
insignificant acts, and yet be unwilling to preserve 
the being who is their author." (Future Life, 
Elbe, pp 370-371.) 



II 

LOVE THE BASIS OF RELIGIOUS UNITY 

WE hear a great deal of talk at the present 
time about Church unity, but it appears to 
us that a great many who discuss this subject do 
so in anything but an unprejudiced light; many 
might well ask themselves the question as to 
whether they are fully decided in their own minds 
that it really is Unity, and not Uniformity, that 
they truly desire. 

When properly sifted down to Fundamental 
Principles, after laying aside all prejudice and 
personal preferences, it will be found that a great 
many of the Dogmas and Doctrines of all the so- 
called Christian Churches and Bodies are not 
essential to the pure Christianity of Jesus the 
Christ, and may or may not be opposed to it, ac- 
cording to the mental impression which they pro- 
duce upon those who come into direct contact with 
them. 

The Fundamental Principle of the teaching of 
Jesus is Love to God proved by our love to 

27 



28 Four Religious Essays 

Humanity, as common spiritual offspring from 
Him upon which He bases all the Law and the 
Prophets. (See Math. xxi. 37-40.) What then is 
love to God? What definition of God, if any, 
can be given to suit all requirements? What 
do we mean by God? The definition that ap- 
pears to me as ^coming the nearest to filling all 
necessary requirements would be this; any man's 
highest conception of what is good and perfect, 
which he happens to hold at any particular time, 
is the highest conception of God which at that 
time he is capable of holding; therefore he must 
love his highest conception of Goodness and Per- 
fection with all his heart, soul and mind; this gives 
him something real and tangible instead of some- 
thing vague and hazy upon which to set his af- 
fections ; it is well to remember that he is to love 
his neighbor as himself, therefore he must first 
learn to love his higher Divine Self, the Divine 
Immanence; therefore in loving his neighbor as 
himself it is most important that he should have 
a proper conception of himself as a child of the 
Universal Spirit, of whom all are children; in 
loving himself and others he is also loving his and 
their Divine Origin whom we call God, the Uni- 
versal Spirit, who is above all, through all, and 
in all. 

God is Spirit. 



Love the Basis of Religions Unity 29 

Spirit is Infinite. 

All universal Law comes from the Infinite 
Spirit. 

Therefore all Natural Law is capable of Infinite 
Unfoldment. 

Sin is the Transgression of the Law. Universal 
Laws are Physical, Mental, Moral, Psychical, and 
Spiritual, each and all of which are natural on 
their own plane. Ignorance of Law is therefore 
the principal cause of Sin. 

Now undoubtedly the simplest statement of 
Religion given by all great Spiritual Teachers and 
especially that of the greatest of all, Jesus the 
Christ, could be expressed in these words: the 
unfoldment of the Divine within the undeveloped 
Human, or the bringing of the Human into one 
mind, i. e., atonement with the mind of God the 
Universal Spirit; but the Spirit is Infinite, there- 
fore this unfoldment is eternal and progressive, 
as is also all Divine Law considered from our not 
fully developed Human standpoint. 

This makes it a self-evident fact that no dogmas 
or doctrines in their present form can be final. 
They doubtless have hidden beneath the letter an 
underlying Divine Principle which is changeless, 
but the forms and symbols which they assume 
must undergo constant modification and change 
according to the development, i. e., the evolution, 



30 Four Religious Essays 

of the Human Race. Once grasp this fact and 
Unity is no longer a difficulty, for then the True 
Christian recognizes that the thing to be aimed 
at and desired is the unfoldment of the higher 
divine nature, that is, Christly principles, lying 
latent in some, and in all degrees of development 
in others, being careful not to interfere with the 
individuality, bearing in mind that each man hath 
his own gift from God, who as Universal Spirit 
in a certain sense becomes individualized in each 
of his creatures, which should be true manifesta- 
tion of his spirit, or in other words become per- 
fect instruments for the Universal Spirit to work 
through, and in which to become individualized, as 
St. Paul says, One God and Father of all, who 
is above all, through all, and in you all. All forms 
of Christianity, and in fact of any Religion, on 
no account should ever be regarded as an end 
in themselves, as this is the great danger to which 
all are subjected, and if they do not observe care it 
defeats the very object for which they truly exist. 
They must ever keep before the minds of the 
masses that they are only a means to an end, to be 
used as guides, signposts, and spiritual tonics to 
the soul in its endeavors to come into conscious 
communion with the Divine Source of its being; 
then as we recognize that men are on all planes 
and stages of growth and evolution, we will readily 



Love the Basis of Religious Unity 31 

recognize that one form may help one and another 
form may help another, and that as a man out- 
grows one form a higher form is at hand to take 
its place. 

Trying to force one's Religious Knowledge and 
Belief of a high order upon those whom St. Paul 
designates as babes in Christ is as sensible as it 
would be to start a primary school scholar in the 
high school, which is ridiculous on the face of it. 

Religion must be faced and presented in a com- 
monsense and scientific manner if it is ever going 
to appeal to the masses, who are no longer en- 
tirely lacking in intelligence and education as in 
former days and hence could be dictated to and 
ordered about without a mind of their own, and 
whose superstition was often played upon by a 
not always over-scrupulous priesthood. 

We could here especially call your attention to 
a careful reading of I Corinthians III which was 
evidently written by the great St. Paul when under 
a high degree of spiritual exaltation and illumina- 
tion. Had the early Christian Church grasped the 
significance of the words of wisdom therein con- 
tained, it is true there would have resulted wide 
divergence of intellectual opinion, but moral worth 
and character would have been insisted upon by 
all. But as soon as the early church councils de- 
cided that all men must believe intellectually alike 
in certain dogmas and creeds, placing these as of 



32 Four Religious Essays 

more importance than true moral worth and 
character which is bound to be the outcome of all 
True and Unselfish Love as lived and demon- 
strated by the Master, the True Religion of 
Jesus rapidly degenerated and became the hotbed 
of theological and philosophical vagaries many of 
which the masses of the people could not possibly 
grasp or understand any more than can the ma- 
jority of the masses to-day. 

In the very early church there seems to have 
been an exoteric teaching given to the masses, and 
an esoteric or mystical teaching given to those 
only who by a righteous moral and spiritual life 
proved themselves fit for its instruction and re- 
ception. 

Sin, as already stated, is Transgression of the 
Law. Transgression of the Law is living out of 
Harmony with God's Laws on all planes, which 
produces Disharmony, i. e., Disease. 

Righteousness, Physical, Moral, and Spiritual, 
is bringing our life into Harmony with God's 
Laws on all planes, which is Harmony, i. e., 
Health. 

The Religion of Jesus is the unfoldment of the 
Divine within the Human or bringing the Human 
into agreement with the Divine, but all Natural 
and Universal Laws manifest the mind of God, 
but God is Spirit, and God is Love, therefore he 
who loves best and wisest is most spiritual, and 



Love the Basis of Religious Unity 33 

naturally knows most of God who is Infinite Love, 
and he proves this love by service to his fellow 
men whom he recognizes as he does himself as 
the instruments through which the Universal 
Spirit works and manifests itself, on this and all 
other planes, and so he recognizes Unity in variety 
in all those to whom the Master referred when He 
said, "By this shall all men know that ye are my 
disciples if ye have love one to another. " He 
recognizes love as the fulfilling of the Law. 

Dogmas, Doctrines, Creeds, he will leave to 
the individual to decide which at any time or 
place is most helpful to him in the unfoldment of 
his higher nature, and he will realize as did St. 
Paul when he said, "Therefore let no man glory 
in man, for all things are yours, whether Paul, or 
Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or 
death, or things present, or things to come, all are 
yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's, " 
I Cor. Ill, 21-23. The Universal Spirit whom 
we call God is changeless; it is we, as we progress 
and evolve, that change. 

God is as much in His universe as ever. But 
if any Church or Christian Body fails to strive 
earnestly to live up to its highest ideals and re- 
fuses to grow or permit growth by refusing to 
recognize the further unfoldment of truth as it is 
manifested upon earth in many and manifold ways, 
it will become a stagnant and dead instead of a 



34 Four Religious Essays 

living and growing organism and will be weighed 
in the balances and found wanting as have many 
other forms of Religion in the past, all of which 
have served a good purpose in their day and 
generation, and will give place to a higher form 
that is a Purer Type of Christianity which, 
figuratively speaking, will be born from it amidst 
pain and tribulation, but when it comes to birth 
will be young, fresh, vigorous, and growing, and 
fitted to the needs, requirements and mentality, 
including the Higher Spirituality of the New Age 
now being born from the pain and pangs and 
bitter experiences and mistakes of the past. 
Political Autocracies are fast making way for the 
Higher Democracies. Religious Autocracies will 
also in time leave when the time is ripe and they 
have served their purpose in the evolution of the 
race, and will give way to a true Religious 
Democracy. The time will come foretold by the 
prophet Jeremiah when he proclaimed, "And they 
shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and 
every man his brother, saying Know the Lord: 
for they shall all know me, from the least of them 
unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I 
will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin 
no more." Jer. 31-34. 

Until then let us have patience and trust in the 
Infinite Wisdom of our Spiritual Father God, who 
is drawing all men unto Him, though in many 



Love the Basis of Religious Unity 35 

and devious ways, by the wonderful example of 
Divine Love and Self-sacrifice as manifested in 
the Life of Him whom all Christians nominally 
hail as Lord and Master, and who said, "I if I 
be lifted up will draw all men unto me," thus 
proving and proclaiming the power of the one 
True and Universal Religion of Love; which 
manifests itself around us in thousands of dif- 
ferent ways, which never conflict, proving that 
Love is the fulfilling of the Law and the only 
Religion which none can take exception to. 



Ill 



DOES THE CHURCH CARE MORE FOR VARIOUS 

THEORIES OF THE TRUTH THAN SHE DOES 

FOR THE TRUTH ITSELF? 

IF we were to ask the ordinary member of the 
church, or even a minister of the Christian 
Church, the question which appears as the heading 
of this essay, they would probably answer without 
any serious thought or consideration that the 
particular branch of the Christian Church with 
which they were connected stands for the Truth 
itself; but the history of the past and a close and 
unbiased observation will clearly prove that this 
has not been the case in the past nor is it by any 
means always the case at the present day. 

Man in the past according to his development 
and progress has created ideas and theories about 
God, The Absolute, The Infinite and Eternal 
Energy and Intelligence, and His relationship to 
the Universe, in exact proportion to the stage of 
his development. It is true, however, that there 
have always been those who have been in advance 
of the age in which they dwelt and when they have 

36 



Theories of Truth or Truth Itself? 37 

dared to express opinions and even discoveries 
which conflicted with the prevailing religious 
tenets of their day and generation, have been 
branded as heretics and in many instances have 
suffered martyrdom for the Truth. 

Look at the constant conflict that in the past 
has existed between theology and science. On this 
particular subject we recommend "The Warfare 
Between Science and Theology" by Andrew D. 
White as being well worth a careful perusal. 

Each time that Science has eventually proved 
the Truth she asserted, sooner or later the Church 
has had to alter her opinions along those lines, 
and to fall into line with the Truth, she at first 
so vigorously opposed. Note, for instance, how 
she treated the Copernican Theory of Astronomy, 
and at a much later date the Theory of Evolution; 
to bear out the truth of our statement compare 
the Religious and Theological Books of to-day 
with those of fifty or a hundred years ago and 
mark well the difference of opinion therein con- 
tained; the ultra conservative of to-day would 
then have been considered as bordering on heresy, 
and where would the radicals within the Church 
to-day have been placed? Perhaps for the sake of 
charity we had better not ask the question. 

Is it not time that the Christian Church should 
come out openly and boldly, yes, and fearlessly, as 
the champion of truth on all sides, and no matter 



38 Four Religious Essays 

from what quarter or source it may be derived, 
should she not forever cease to try and champion 
or even to adhere to Theories of the Truth which 
no matter how useful they may have been in the 
past, have now been outgrown and will not stand 
the test of the advanced knowledge of the present 
day? 

Let her acknowledge that no man's conception 
of God can be higher than the conception of the 
human medium incarnate or disincarnate through 
which it passes; let her give Intellectual Liberty 
to all within the fold, encouraging each one to give 
to the world that portion of the Truth which 
his Divine Origin has implanted within them, to 
be evolved without. 

We claim that there is but one source and 
origin of life — God. Names do not matter ; call it 
if you prefer, The Universal Life or Energy, the 
Infinite Intelligence, Universal Mind, or the 
Absolute. After all it is simply man's attempt to 
give a name to that which he realizes but cannot 
fully comprehend. 

God then being the source and origin of all life, 
all men must be divine and capable of divine un- 
foldment. 

The New Psychology teaches us that there are 
three phases or planes of the mind: the Subcon- 
scious, the Conscious or Intellectual, and the 
Superconscious or Spiritual, and that the Conscious 



Theories of Truth or Truth Itself? 39 

mind or Intellect on this earth plane is the meeting 
place of the subconscious and the superconscious, 
and that it is through the superconscious or 
spiritual that all inspiration flows. 

In the New Testament we are told that "the 
Pure in heart shall see God," and also that holy 
men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy 
Ghost, but for some ridiculous reason it has been 
taught or implied in the past, that the highest 
kind of Inspiration had ceased, and at the same 
time that the Deity is unchangeable. 

Inspiration is just as possible to-day as at any 
other period in the history of the world, when 
the laws governing its operation are put into mo- 
tion; and as man has progressed farther along in 
his evolution it ought if anything to be of a higher 
type and kind. 

Jesus, the most perfect manifestation of the 
Divine, taught his disciples that they should ac- 
complish even greater works than he did when 
the Spirit of Truth came upon them. It appears 
to me that the teaching of Jesus is plainly and 
emphatically that man is divine and capable of 
endless unfoldment and development, for his com- 
mand is "Ye shall be perfect even as your Father 
in heaven is perfect," and we believe this state- 
ment of his which so many of those who profess 
to follow him apparently deny. 

The New Psychology teaches us the importance 



40 Four Religious Essays 

of holding lofty ideals and the power of auto- 
suggestion in the building up of a strong character, 
u For as a man thinketh in his heart so is he." 
Jesus taught and practised absolute loyalty to the 
truth as the soul becomes conscious of it, by com- 
ing into ever closer union with God, the Universal 
Intelligence and Truth, its divine source from 
which it cannot be separated, and in whom all 
truth centres. The Cross according to a true in- 
terpretation of the Gospels cannot be the emblem 
of a substitutionary sacrifice to appease an angry 
or offended Deity; angry or offended are impos- 
sible adjectives to place before the Universal 
Beneficence. An angry and offended God to us 
would simply be nothing but an uncontrolled and 
finite human devil; these are strong w T ords but the 
thought of the Supreme Ruler and Sustainer of 
the Universe being offended at our mistakes and 
losing his temper at our pitiful ignorance makes a 
cold shudder run down one's back, especially when 
we realize the Infinite Love and Wisdom of the 
Great Being in whom we live and move and have 
our being. * The Cross then becomes the emblem 
of self-sacrifice and undying loyalty and devotion 
to Love and Truth, and the truth was crucified by 
those holding false theories concerning it, for fear 
that if its theories were destroyed its power over 
men would be lost. It cared more for its supposed 



Theories of Truth or Truth Itself? 41 

truth than for the truth itself, but Truth rose 
triumphant. 

As previously stated the New Psychology 
teaches the importance of keeping constantly be- 
fore us high and lofty ideals, and the great aid, 
to be gained in giving expression to these, through 
the proper use of auto- or self-suggestion, which 
conclusively proves that the old Hindoo teaching 
of the repetition of lofty mantrams or short 
sentences, has a beneficent result in the develop- 
ment of human character; as the ideals thus ex- 
pressed are impressed upon the subconscious mind 
which will eventually bring them out upon the 
plane of objective life. 

Does the Church care more for the Truth itself 
than certain old theories concerning the truth? 
In asking this question we do not wish to be re- 
garded as in any sense scorning or despising these 
old theories nor to be understood as asserting that 
they have done no good in the past, but when old 
theories have been outgrown and found to be 
deficient we should not cling to them for the sake 
of past associations or mere sentiment, but should 
willingly lay them aside and make room for the 
fuller revelations that must in due time supplant 
them. We should keep our minds in a receptive 
state. By repeated autp-suggestion even of that 
which is false we clog the mind with false im- 



42 Four Religious Essays 

pressions, and make it very difficult for it to lay 
aside error and accept truth. 

The Roman Church either consciously or un- 
consciously puts into practice the law of sugges- 
tion, when it claims if it has complete control of a 
child up to the seventh year it will seldom, if ordi- 
nary care is taken, ever leave the church; it also 
prohibits the mind from receiving contrary sug- 
gestions until its ideas are deeply rooted and im- 
pressed and hence extremely difficult to eradicate. 

To a certain extent this is true of all religious 
bodies and is the reason why we find so many in 
our churches simply because their parents were 
there before them and they have been brought up 
in that way and take things more or less for 
granted that have been impressed upon them dur- 
ing their early life, by the laws of suggestion and 
auto-suggestion. 

Jesus said, "If ye would enter into the kingdom 
of God ye must become as little children" ; that is, 
we must empty our minds of all preconceived ideas 
and hold the receptive state of mind, which is 
willing to examine truth from all sides and com- 
pare all opinions, drawing our own conclusions, 
ever keeping the spiritual faculty of intuition free 
and clear for fuller revelations of truth from the 
source of all Truth that Universal Spirit of the 
Infinite Intelligence God. 

We believe that many who have shaken off the 



Theories of Truth or Truth Itself? 43 

shackles of mental slavery are hindered from at- 
tending our services and keep aloof from our 
Churches, causing the Church to ask that question 
which has become almost a proverbial saying at 
the present day, namely, "Why do not people go 
to church?" which to some extent we think may 
be answered by saying that a great many people 
have outgrown our forms of expression and not 
as yet being able or willing, during a transition 
period, to reconcile themselves to use the old form 
of words as symbols or in a poetical sense, they 
stay away rather than repeat or hear repeated 
what literally they cannot fully accept, perhaps 
forgetting that the letter killeth but the spirit 
giveth life; they then stay away altogether and 
are often misjudged by those who cannot under- 
stand or grasp their mental attitude. 

A good woman not long ago told us that she 
could not bear to go to the Litany Service of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church, because she did not 
believe in calling herself a miserable sinner — a 
somewhat dangerous assertion, so we think when 
we remember the great power of auto-suggestion; 
she further added that she did not feel miserable 
and recognized the Divine Goodness in all His 
works. 

When we seriously come to think of it, it cer- 
tainly is not a compliment to the Author of our 
being to belittle the highest forms of life through 



44 Four Religious Essays 

which He manifests Himself upon earth, by call- 
ing them miserable sinners, worms, etc. An igno- 
rant sinner desirous of further light and develop- 
ment so as to be of greater use to the world in 
cooperating with the divine plan of progress and 
evolution would appear to be more to the point 
with our present knowledge and plane of develop- 
ment. 

Christ stands for the Universal Spirit of Truth 
most perfectly manifested in Jesus, the Logos, 
Word, Thought or Truth of God. The Church 
theoretically stands for Jesus, but Jesus is "the 
Way, the Truth and the Life." These things are 
manifested in and through him, to be manifested 
in and through us, but as said the Church stands 
for Jesus, therefore for the Truth itself, and not 
for any particular theory of the truth whether of 
the first, fourth, sixteenth, or any other century. 
She claims to be Catholic, that is, Universal, that 
is all-inclusive, therefore if she is to be true to her 
name she must incorporate truth from all sources 
and be ready whenever she finds a certain ancient 
theory to be lacking, to supplant it with one that 
can be established on a firmer basis, by the further 
light, knowledge, and methods of the twentieth 
century; she must ever stand out boldly as a Living 
Church with a Living Message, she must recog- 
nize the divinity of man, and the right of that man 
who by a holy life and purpose high is ever open 



Theories of Truth or Truth Itself? 45 

to the voice of intuition and to the higher worlds, 
coming into touch with the cosmic consciousness 
from which he can receive knowledge by having 
developed his latent psychic and spiritual faculties 
resulting in the unfoldment of his spiritual con- 
sciousness. 

The Living Church cannot afford, like so many 
other so-called divine institutions in the past, to 
cling to pet theories and expressions of what was 
once regarded as true and beneficent, as by so 
doing she will cease to live and finally become 
dead. 

Can any serious and thoughtful man or woman 
help but realize that there is even now a New 
Heaven and a New Earth to that which was in 
existence a hundred years ago? Look at the in- 
ventions of the last century and those of the last 
few years and how entirely physical conditions 
upon the earth have been renewed what with the 
various uses of steam and electricity, also the ad- 
vance in chemistry and in medical knowledge, in 
fact in all departments of science. 

If we read the views on heaven and hell as 
written and proclaimed a hundred years back and 
compare them with those now written and 
preached, such as eternal hope, eternal progres- 
sion and so forth, what a tremendous change we 
are confronted with. 

It appears to us if we are to be true to the 



46 Four Religious Essays 

Christ, that is to the manifestation of the truth 
in Jesus, so we must also be true to the Christ, 
that is, the divine within ourselves which is con- 
stantly being unfolded, individually and collective- 
ly in the world; and if the old Historic Church is 
not to be weighed in the balances and found want- 
ing she must always place truth first and foremost 
not only theoretically but practically. Her teach- 
ings concerning the truth must bear the scrutiny 
and test of all the so-called sciences; true, she may 
proclaim things higher than those generally ac- 
cepted by but nothing contrary to reason. She 
must be the leader in a True Spiritual Science if 
she is to hold the reverence and respect of all 
seriously minded and deeply thinking men and 
women; she must place Truth and the Goodness 
that alone can come from the truth, above every- 
thing and not insist upon any pet theory or 
theories concerning the truth, some of which have 
already been proved to be wrong conclusions and 
abandoned and others which as yet are still open 
questions. 

She must as the Master said become as a little 
child, that is lay aside all self-conceived and preju- 
diced ideas and be open and receptive to the Uni- 
versal Spirit of Truth which in the aeons to come 
is to guide us by slow but sure methods of evolu- 
tion, and growth, and progress into all Truth. 

In this growth she must learn to be inclusive, 



Theories of Truth or Truth Itself? 47 

not exclusive, Catholic in its old original sense of 
Universal, ever ready and willing to embrace and 
to incorporate The Good, The Beautiful, and True 
from every source, recognizing that there is but 
One God and Father. We care not to quibble over 
names, call it if you prefer, The Universal In- 
telligence, Universal Energy, Spirit, The Absolute, 
or The Infinite Source of Being, which is above 
all, through all, and in you all, ever guiding, di- 
recting and leading us, if we allow the promptings 
of the Spirit by a pure and exalted life to work in 
and through us for the universal good of hu- 
manity. 

Once more we ask, does the Church love truth 
for itself or certain pet theories of the Truth? 
Our unbiased answer is — 

In the past she often loved her theories best. 
In the present she is not always wholly decided. 
In the future Truth will win and she will be the 
champion of the Eternal Truth. A glorious herit- 
age is before her as she allows herself to be guided 
by the Spirit of Truth which is to lead mankind 
into all truth. 

But in the meantime in the words of Sir Oliver 
Lodge which we quote as follows: 

"Pioneers must expect hard knocks, the mind 
of a people cannot change only slowly. Until the 
mind of a people is changed, new truths born be- 
fore their time must suffer the fate of other un- 



48 Four Religious Essays 

timely births ; and the prophet who preaches them 
must expect to be mistaken for a useless fanatic, 
of whom every age has always had too many, must 
be content to be literally or metaphorically put to 
death, as part of the process of the regeneration 
of the world." 

In closing we would state that in our inmost 
being we realize that the Truth Itself and Truth 
alone must and shall prevail, and it will be loved 
for its own sake and for the good which always 
follows strict obedience to her laws as they are 
unfolded one by one. The true disciple of Jesus, 
that most profoundly divine Master and Teacher, 
knows u that where the Spirit of Christ is, there 
is Liberty." 



IV 

THE DIVINITY OF MAN 

DIVINE Humanity, Man Divine; wondrous 
thought, yea, rather important but neglected 
truth. How little understood, how little compre- 
hended, by how many realized? by how few fully 
grasped with all that it contains and signifies? 
For Humanity being Divine, then mankind par- 
takes of the essence and nature of God, and thus 
every man and woman is a god or goddess in the 
making. Says the Apostle, "there is One God and 
Father of all, who is above all, through all, and 
in you all, and in whom we live and move and 
have our beings"; yet how many believe and real- 
ize it. Yea ! How many can affirm, I know it; yet 
it is undoubtedly the teaching of Jesus, the Christ, 
the great spiritual teacher, master and instructor 
to whom all nominal Christians profess their 
allegiance. 

A certain writer has said, "That the History of 
all Dogmatic and Revealed Religion is in Truth 
but a history of man's endeavors to discover and 
invent some plan or scheme or method whereby he 

49 



50 Four Religious Essays 

may shirk his Personal Responsibility, or shift it 
to other shoulders than his own, or in some man- 
ner escape the natural consequences of its con- 
scious and intentional evasion or violation." That 
these words are undoubtedly founded on a true 
statement of the facts cannot be doubted or denied 
by any earnest seeker after truth, and that it is 
exactly opposite to the unadulterated truth taught 
by Jesus, the Christ, is also self-evident to anyone 
who carefully studies his words and teaching. 
That the words of the Master have time and again 
been twisted and turned until they have been made 
to coincide or take the place of certain prevalent 
ideas of paganism is something which any careful 
student of the history of the past cannot help, if 
he is unbiased, having forced upon his attention. 
Man, from the earliest times of which we have 
any records concerning him, appears to have 
sooner or later recognized that whenever he did 
certain things which he intuitively felt that he 
ought not to commit, he invariably suffered ac- 
cordingly, and also that whenever he came into 
conflict or opposition with certain physical 
phenomena he also suffered; from this he con- 
cluded that there was some great power or powers 
over which he had no control and with which he 
clothed in his imagination with a personality and 
like passions with himself, only all-powerful, and 
whom, like himself, he also imagined could be ap- 



The Divinity of Man 51 

peased or bribed by various offerings and gifts; 
hence the idea of offering pacific sacrifices to ap- 
pease an angry and arbitrary deity who dwelt out- 
side and above his world: however, as man came 
to be more highly developed, and as his higher in- 
tellectual and spiritual faculties in due time un- 
folded, higher and worthier ideas of deity sprang 
up. All ages and climes seem to have had their 
prophets and seers many years in advance of the 
age in which they lived. We have for instance 
such men as Confucius, Zoroaster, Buddha and 
also many of the Hebrew Prophets, whose concep- 
tions of God were far in advance of their day and 
generation, all of whose teachings have been more 
or less corrupted from their original purity by 
the majority of those professing to be their 
disciples and followers. Finally one greater than 
all arose whose teachings have been gradually 
revolutionizing the world, and when they are more 
clearly and thoroughly grasped and comprehended 
will do even more than in the past. We, of course, 
allude to Jesus, the Christ, the greatest spiritual 
teacher, instructor and master that has dwelt upon 
this earth, but whose teaching has also been most 
terribly corrupted and misunderstood; in fact, a 
great deal that is nothing more nor less than a 
modified form of paganism goes under the as- 
sumed name of Christianity; the great leaders of 
the pagan world, when they found that they could 



52 Four Religious Essays 

no longer stem the tide of Christian truth, which 
was rapidly losing them their hold upon the 
populace, sagaciously and shrewdly compromised 
by professing to incorporate it into their system, 
and to some extent, by substituting names and 
terms, they practically saved a number of pagan 
dogmas by clothing them with Christian names. 
Among other things, the death of the Master, 
brought about by his undying loyalty to righteous- 
ness and truth, was made into a sacrifice for the 
propitiation first of an angry Satan and later of 
an angry and offended God, and offered as a substi- 
tute for the shortcomings of man. 

The Church assumed the right of dispensing 
salvation, or not, as it saw fit, upon certain con- 
ditions and not infrequently for a monetary con- 
sideration, to help fill her coffers. Personal re- 
sponsibility was admitted as it must be, for it is 
inherent in humanity, but all kinds of means were 
adopted by the church, for the sake of power and 
worldly advantage, to take the place of that per- 
sonal responsibility; and this has often been so 
cleverly and artfully done that many have failed 
to see through the various perversions which so 
many of the Christian denominations have made 
of the words and teaching of our Holy Lord and 
Master, Jesus the Christ. 

Let us compare a few of the things which have 
been taught in the name of the Master with what 



The Divinity of Man 53 

he actually taught. So-called Christianity has 
taught and in some instances still teaches "The 
Total Depravity of Man." Jesus taught the 
Divinity of Man: One is your Father which is in 
Heaven, and all ye are brethren, words addressed 
to a mixed multitude. 

So-called Christianity has taught that God must 
be appeased because he is angry with man because 
man sins. Jesus has taught that God is a loving 
and righteous Father who sends his sunshine and 
rain on the just and unjust, and longs for the re- 
turn of the prodigal, because he loves man and 
hates sin, as sin is the transgression of his wise 
and beneficent laws, which transgression unavoid- 
ably brings suffering which is for man's good, to 
direct him into the paths of rectitude. 

So-called Christianity has taught that Jesus in 
some way or another has made atonement to God 
for the sins of mankind, and that if man accepts 
him in this light which they teach, which varies 
considerably, according to the denomination or 
the individual expounding it (there having been 
some eighteen or more different theories on this 
particular topic), he will be saved from future 
punishment. Jesus has taught that man can only 
be saved from the penalty of sin by giving up 
sinning, the penalty for the transgression of the 
law following, as effect follows its cause. Said he, 
"Go and sin no more"; "Ye shall be perfect even 



54 Four Religious Essays 

as your Father which is in heaven is perfect"; the 
ideal he holds out to man, if they follow him, is 
the Divine Perfection. Again, u Not every one 
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into 
the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the 
will of my Father who is in Heaven.' 5 

The Christian Church has largely, and especial- 
ly in the past, taught a God external to and away 
up above his world, a sort of arbitrary monarch. 
Jesus has taught a God within his world, especially 
within the soul of man. Says he, u The Kingdom 
of God is within you." Again, u Is it not written in 
your law, I said ye are gods?" If he called them 
Gods unto whom the word of God came, and the 
scriptures cannot be broken. It is therefore plain 
enough to the man or woman who has the courage 
to earnestly pray for the truth and the courage to 
seek it with unprejudiced and unbiased mind, be- 
coming, as the Master said, in this respect as little 
children, ever ready to learn from all sources, that 
a great deal of what has been given forth to the 
world as the religion of Jesus, the Christ, is quite 
often the very reverse. No doubt there is a truth 
underlying it, but the truth has been many times 
perverted, and most assuredly every honest and 
self-respecting man has a right to ask himself, and 
then try and answer the question, What is the key- 
note of true Christianity, a Christianity upon 
which all might unite and at the same time give up 



The Divinity of Man 55 

nothing of personal value to himself in the way 
of dogma or doctrine, and which can never be until 
all men have learnt to love the Truth for its own 
sake, and to recognize its infinite modes of ex- 
pression, loving the Truth for Truth's sake far 
more than their own pet theories and dogmas and 
doctrines about it ; ever distinguishing Truth from 
Man's manifold attempts at its explanation. We 
can all believe in a Universal Intelligence which is 
manifesting itself throughout the universe in a 
thousand different ways, and hence which is the 
Universal Father of all, and as the Father of all 
it brings us into touch with all creation and forces 
us to recognize all men as brothers and of one 
divine origin, and hence divine, with marvellous 
latent capacities, waiting by obedience to the laws 
of this Universal Intelligence God, to be unfolded 
and developed. 

This realization will leave all intellectual con- 
ceptions free to the Individual. Experience and 
time will prove which are truly in accordance with 
the laws of God. The moment you undertake to 
force a certain interpretation of some portion of 
Truth (for Truth itself is infinite and capable of 
infinite unfoldment) upon a set of men, making 
that a standard of membership, you are founding 
an institution, in so far as it contains truth, divine : 
in so far as it contains error, human : and who will 
dare to claim all truth, and make themselves equal 



56 Four Religious Essays 

with the Universal Intelligence : hence all denomi- 
nations in this light can be looked upon as both 
human and divine in origin, and when this is recog- 
nized, a great step towards unity will be gained. 

Jesus earnestly endeavored to teach all those 
whom he addressed to realize the divinity within 
and to unfold it, and so become conscious of their 
union with God who is not only above us, but also 
within us, for the Father incarnates himself in all 
his works, and no man can possibly understand 
more of God than he has unfolded within himself, 
or seen unfolded in some other fellow man, which 
responds to something higher within himself, 
which he has not yet unfolded and reached, for 
we only truly know those things which we have 
made part of ourselves: in fact, no man really 
knows any other, he only knows his idea of that 
other which may or may not be correct. In fact, 
when we know ourselves so little, how can we pre- 
sume to know others : in fact, the more fully we 
know, understand and comprehend ourselves, the 
better we can comprehend others. Say what you 
will, no two men have the same opinion of or 
know their mutual friends in the same way. In 
brief, we know nothing except that of which the 
Individual Soul is in some sense conscious. 

How, therefore, in all reason can we expect any 
two men or bodies of men to have any fast or 
bound rules as to the knowledge of God? All the 



The Divinity of Man 57 

laws of Nature on all planes of existence that we 
know and become self-conscious of, teach us some- 
thing concerning the ways of the Universal In- 
telligence; by bringing ourselves into harmony 
with them, we unfold the Divine within us, and all 
is well; we are then living according to the Con- 
structive Principle of Nature. When we put our- 
selves in opposition to these laws, all of which are 
beneficent when properly used, we are then fol- 
lowing the Destructive Principle of Nature, and 
suffer accordingly : and by Nature we do not only 
mean Physical Laws, but Spiritual and Psychic 
Laws. 

But Man having a Divine Heredity from God 
can unfold his nature so as not only to grasp 
physical laws and their results, but also Spiritual 
and Psychic Laws and their results. 

By strict obedience to Physical, Spiritual and 
Psychic Law we grow and unfold : those who know 
more than we do can teach, but we must make 
that teaching part of ourselves by following the 
path laid out, so as to make it part of ourselves. 
But what of the ignorant who have not the ad- 
vantage of an instructor? No man is so ignorant 
but that he has some sort of a conscience. Jesus 
taught men that they must obey this voice of con- 
science which is intuitive. Wilful disobedience to 
this higher Divine voice is blasphemy against the 
Holy Ghost, which cannot be forgiven, and which 



58 Four Religious Essays 

causes so much sin and misery. Man cannot shirk 
his personal responsibility and escape the penalty. 
There is no legitimate way for him to avoid his 
duty, and to do his best according to the present 
stage of his development. 

One reason why man makes so little effort is 
undoubtedly from the fact that in the past it has 
been so universally taught that man is a poor, 
miserable, depraved, creature, incapable of doing 
any good of himself, instead of being taught that 
he is a divine son of God, and that if he claims it, 
he has within him a latent divine power that will 
enable him to overcome his shortcomings. He 
must pray to God with all his strength to unfold 
the God within, and he must appeal to all that is 
best and Godlike within to overcome the excesses 
of his lower and carnal nature, and in doing this 
he must recognize his latent will power, and once 
and for all cease to say that it is impossible, for 
with God within and God without, according to 
the Master, Jesus, all things are possible to him 
that believeth. According to much of the teach- 
ing of the past, men don't believe and hence don't 
try — this, with a lurking belief that they can make 
some sort of substitutionary plea or offset, is half 
the trouble ; let them by self-control and complete 
mastery over self become conscious of their union 
with God, as did our Lord and Master, and then 
the so-called impossible will become possible, and 



The Divinity of Man 59 

the lower will give place by obedience to Natural 
Law to the Higher and Divine that is waiting 
within to be recognized and made one, by being 
brought onto the plane of self-consciousness. So 
long as we disobey the laws of Nature and Na- 
ture's God, so long must we suffer until by bitter 
experience, and for our own final good, we learn 
to bring our lives into proper Harmonic Relation- 
ships. 

The whole teaching of Jesus appears to me to 
impress upon man his latent divinity, and is a 
direct appeal to him to unfold it, pointing out the 
blessings that follow the unf oldment, and the suf- 
fering that ensues from not bringing our lives into 
conformity with the higher laws of our being. 

He seems to me to teach that having mastered 
self and selfishness, having gained perfect mastery 
and self-control over our lower selves, we could 
then prove not only by our teaching, but by our 
lives and examples — no matter what our vocation 
may be — that the Christ life is possible, and that 
we should urge others to also unfold the Christ 
within. 

The Religion of Jesus thus becomes a life. It 
is biological far more than theological; it is a life 
of service to humanity by obedience to the Laws 
of Nature and Nature's God, a recognition of the 
Spiritual Fatherhood of God and the Spiritual 
Brotherhood of Humanity on account of our com- 



6o Four Religious Essays 

mon origin from God: it is a life of a gradual 
divine unfoldment and growth, in accordance with 
strict obedience to the known laws of the Uni- 
versal Intelligence, which are being better under- 
stood as mankind is more fully and perfectly de- 
veloped. 

In all ages there are those in advance who have 
reached the stage of conscious union with God 
and more perfectly understand all that it means 
and conveys. That man is divine, that man is an 
Individualized, Finited God in the making, in 
whom are latent divine powers which he receives 
from his Universal Father, ever waiting to be un- 
folded and recognized, and when recognized 
brings him into true relationship with his spiritual 
Father, God, and into proper relationship to his 
brother, man. 

This is the message of Jesus Christ, and it is 
the message of our adorable Lord and Master, 
which more than any other is needed at the present 
day. 

Religion as taught in the past has been too me- 
chanical, too much a plan of salvation from the 
consequence of sin; God too much of a big arbi- 
trary monarch on a throne, altogether too earthly, 
too small for the seriously minded of the present 
day to love and revere. Jesus, our Lord and 
Master, has been paganized too much into a sub- 
stitutionary offering, so as to excuse man for 



The Divinity of Man 61 

sinning, instead of being the Way, the Truth and 
the Life whose Spirit we must incorporate into our 
very beings, and make part of ourselves. 

What God or the Universal Intelligence is in 
himself we never can tell. The God of Nature is 
in all his works on all planes of existence. What 
he is in his works and in ourselves we can learn 
and know 7 ever more and more fully: what he is 
above all these things is beyond our limited com- 
prehension. Let us leave it alone. 

Let men obey the Master and seek the kingdom 
of God within, and so unfold their latent divinity; 
let them bravely meet their Personal Responsi- 
bility; let them be ashamed to try and find excuses 
or scapegoats for their shortcomings in their Re- 
ligion or anything else. 

The Religion of Jesus is a life of usefulness, 
obedience to the voice of conscience, doing our best 
each day, increasing our knowledge of God's laws; 
not simply to believe them, but to know and then 
to obey and to do them. The mere intellectual be- 
lief in anything, alone, will not help us. It is in 
the doing of the law, or in the bringing of our 
lives into conformity with it, that man is blest. 
Said the Master, "If any man will do God's will, 
he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of 
God or whether I speak of myself;" and again, 
"If ye know these things, happy are ye, if ye do 
them." 



62 Four Religious Essays 

The Religion of Jesus gives fair play to all 
moral, intellectual conceptions concerning God. 

All intellectual conceptions concerning Religion 
or any of God's laws, in so far as they help a man 
to be more like Christ (which implies obedience to 
all the laws of nature with which he is at the time 
conscious — that means conceptions which are help- 
ing him to unfold his divinity) , are the best for his 
present stage of development until he himself, by 
instruction and research, freely supplants them 
with a higher intellectual conception, which he sees 
is going to be of greater assistance to him in his 
future growth and development. 

It is a wise thing to supplant a good thing with 
a better, but a foolish thing to despise a good thing 
which has been of value but outgrown. 

We should deprive no man of anything that 
helps him to live nearer to God and to goodness. 
But all those things which man makes use of as 
substitutes for his personal responsibility to God 
and Man, even though he claims them as part of 
his religion, vainly deceiving himself that they 
will take the place of living a life in accordance 
with the spirit of the Master. These we ought to 
try to destroy as idols of a vain delusion, danger- 
ous to the holder, and to all those whom he might 
influence in like manner, and as a grave menace 
to the morals of the Race ; for in plain words, they 



The Divinity of Man 63 

are vile excuses for the shirking of Duty and a 
direct refusal to work out their own salvation 
through the unfoldment of the divine within, by 
following in the footsteps of him who said, "Not 
every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall 
enter into the knigdom of heaven, but he who 
doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven." 
Thus we see that the Religion of Jesus is em- 
phatically a life and not a mere intellectual con- 
ception of any particular scheme of salvation. 
Until this fact is fully recognized many thoughtful 
and truly sincere men and women will hold aloof 
from connection with any religious body that in- 
sists on a scheme of salvation and not a life of 
divine unfoldment according to the laws of God, 
leaving their intellects free as to their individual 
conceptions concerning the nature of God, our 
Lord, and dogmas in general, some of which are 
the accretions of a later day than that of when our 
Lord ministered upon earth, and some of which 
are pagan in origin, and which may have served 
their purpose in a day and generation when ideals 
morally and spiritually were at a lower ebb but 
which are now gradually being outgrown. 

The divinity of man and the best methods for 
its unfoldment by applying the principles of the 
Master according to the various temperaments of 
the individual are the most important questions 



64 Four Religious Essays 

with which the church must grapple; if not now, 
at all events in the near future. 

Each child, being divine and also individualized, 
if taught to unfold its latent divinity from earliest 
childhood would have a special message of vast 
importance to give to the world which he or she, 
and none other, could give, and which is now 
largely lost, but which in the future when made 
practical will be found of greatest benefit to man- 
kind, and then the human race will fulfil those 
prophecies of old which proclaim : "And they shall 
teach no more every man his neighbor and every 
man his brother, saying Know the Lord, for they 
shall all know me from the least of them unto the 
greatest of them, saith the Lord," and "For the 
earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord 
as the waters cover the sea." 



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